In a progressive jackpot system, one or more gaming machines participate in awarding a progressive jackpot. Referring to FIG. 1, in such a system, an owner or operator initially contributes a predetermined base component to a progressive jackpot pool, typically from promotional funds. In FIG. 1, this predetermined amount is 500 units. In addition, a portion of each wager on the participating gaming machines is added to an incremental component the progressive jackpot pool. Thus, the amount in the progressive jackpot pool increases as players wager at the participating gaming machines. In FIG. 1, this amount is currently 100 units. When a trigger (described below) occurs at one of the participating gaming machines, the money in the progressive jackpot pool is paid to the player of that gaming machine. In FIG. 1 the player award is the total of the base component, 500 units, and the incremental component 100 units, or 600 units. A new progressive jackpot pool is then replenished by the owner or operator contributing the base component, or 500 units. The participating machines continue to contribute a portion of each wager to the incremental component of the progressive jackpot pool until it is won again. The trigger can include several criteria. Typically, a predetermined combination of game symbols (i.e. winning symbols) must occur on a win line of a participating gaming machine, and the player of that gaming machine must have wagered a maximum amount for the progressive jackpot award to be triggered.
Several variations on this typical scheme are known. In one variation, the new progressive jackpot pool is not solely replenished by the operator or owner. Instead, the base component is initially funded by the owner or operator. Subsequently, a first portion of each wager from the participating gaming machines is supplied to the incremental component of the progressive jackpot pool, as described above. However, a second portion of each wager is provided to a separate pool of money, termed a hidden pool in the present application. The hidden pool is intended to fund the replenishment of the base component of the progressive jackpot pool after the progressive jackpot has been won, instead of receiving funds from the owner or operator. The amount of the second portion of each wager of the participating gaming machines is calculated so that it is expected to cover replenishing the base component of the progressive jackpot pool as that pool is won and awarded to players over the duration of the progressive game.
In another variation, when the progressive jackpot is won, a portion of the progressive jackpot pool (e.g. 600 units) is given to the player who wagered the maximum amount at the gaming machine on which the winning symbols occurred, and the remainder is allocated to other players according to a predetermined scheme. For example, the remainder may be allocated to other players playing the same game, other players playing at the same carousel, other players who have wagered the maximum amount, or some combination of these or other criteria intended to maintain player interest. In one embodiment, the money in the jackpot pool is split evenly among the eligible players. In another embodiment, a larger proportion (e.g. one-half) is allocated to the player at the winning gaming machine, and the remainder (e.g. the other half) is split evenly among the other players. Other methods of allocating the money in the jackpot pool among players are known.
A prior art partial pay progressive jackpot system is similar to known traditional progressive jackpot systems described above. In this partial progressive jackpot system, a progressive jackpot is awarded to the player at a gaming machine on which the winning symbols appeared, even if that player did not wager the maximum amount. In this variation, the progressive jackpot awarded to the player is related to the wager made by the player. When winning symbols occur at a gaming machine, that gaming machine reports a progressive jackpot award win. The progressive jackpot system performs the steps described above with respect to awarding the progressive jackpot in the traditional system. However, instead of awarding the full progressive jackpot pool to the player, only a portion of that pool is awarded to the player. The remainder is retained in the progressive jackpot pool as a portion of the incremental component.
For example, in response to a winning game result, the amount awarded to the player may be proportional to the wager. That is, if the maximum wager is 3 units, and the player wagered 1 unit, the player is awarded ⅓ of the jackpot pool. The progressive jackpot is then replenished as described above. That is, the player is awarded the proportion of the progressive jackpot allocated to him (e.g. ⅓). Then the owner or operator, or a hidden pool, replenishes the base component of the progressive jackpot pool, and the remainder of the previous progressive jackpot pool not awarded to the player (e.g. ⅔) is added to the incremental component of the progressive jackpot pool. Then the participating gaming machines contribute a portion of each wager to the progressive jackpot pool until all or some portion of it is won again.
Referring to FIG. 2, in an example of such a partial pay progressive jackpot system the owner or operator, or a hidden pool, has established a base component of 500 units in the progressive jackpot pool. Participating gaming machines have contributed a portion of each wager to the incremental component of the progressive jackpot pool to the point where an additional 100 units has been added to the pool for a total of 600 units in the progressive jackpot pool. A player at a participating gaming machine gets the winning symbols on his gaming machine after betting ⅓ the maximum wager. This triggers the award of a progressive jackpot award to that player.
Continuing the above example, the player is awarded 200 units, or ⅓ of the progressive jackpot pool. After the award, the base component of the progressive jackpot pool is replenished to the amount of 500 units. The remainder of the preceding progressive jackpot pool, i.e. 400 units, is retained and carried over to the new progressive jackpot pool, so the new progressive jackpot pool begins anew with 900 units in it.
Such an arrangement has problems. First, after winning a progressive jackpot award, the player may be confused when he sees that the amount in the progressive jackpot pool is higher than it was before he won the award. Second, over the life of the progressive game, such a progressive jackpot system ends up paying out more money than the traditional progressive jackpot system described above. Traditional progressive jackpot systems generally operate on the assumption that players wager a maximum amount only about 85% of the time. Consequently, in the traditional progressive game, 15% of the time players would have no chance of being awarded the progressive jackpot, even though winning symbols appear on the gaming machine. That lengthens the time between awards of the progressive jackpot because 15% of the time the maximum wager was not made. Awarding partial progressive jackpots in the manner described above produces unintentional and adverse effects on the overall mathematics of the game in the participating gaming machine. Third, such an arrangement decreases the motivation to wager the maximum amount because no matter what the wager is, the player has a chance to win at least a portion of the progressive jackpot pool.
In yet another variation of a partial pay progressive jackpot system, the progressive jackpot award made to the player is funded partially from the base component of the progressive jackpot pool, and partially from the incremental component. In this variation, a player may be awarded a progressive jackpot amount determined as described above. That is, if the player wagers ¼ of the maximum wager, and a winning game result occurs, the player is awarded ¼ of the progressive jackpot.
Referring to FIG. 3, in this case, the player wagered one unit out of a maximum wager of 4 units. A winning game result occurred at the gaming machine. Consequently, the player is awarded ¼ (25%) of the amount in the progressive jackpot pool. This is illustrated in FIG. 3 by the “25%” over the thick arrows. The amount in the progressive jackpot pool is, as before, 600 units: 500 units in the base component, and 100 units in the incremental component. The player is, thus, awarded 150 units. That award is made up of ¼ of the base amount of 500 units, or 125 units, and ¼ of the incremental amount of 100 units, or 25 units, for the total of 150 units. After the progressive award has been made to the player, the base amount is replenished to the predetermined amount by the owner and operator, or hidden pool. After the award to the player, the amount remaining in the base component is 375 units. The amount necessary to replenish the base component to the required amount of 500 units is 125 units, which is the amount which had been awarded to the player from the base component. The amount remaining in the incremental component after the award to the player is 75 units. This amount is added to the replenished base component. The new progressive jackpot pool, thus, has 575 units. At this point, the progressive game continues until it is won again.
This arrangement also has problems. Because the progressive payout amount is proportional to the player wager, there is no incentive for the player to wager the maximum wager. Further, in this arrangement, the progressive jackpot award made to the player is simply a proportion of the progressive jackpot pool equal to the proportion of the actual wager to the maximum wager; the game mathematics is not considered.
A progressive jackpot system which awards partial progressive jackpot amounts, but which avoids the problems described above is desirable.